Defective netbook components?

[CFu]

I just received from someone for repair a small netbook (HP mini 210-1010eb). The person told me the netbook no longer boots. I also noticed the LED charge light does not light up.

I tested the AC adapter with a multimeter:
AC-in: 235V (my country has a 240V standard with an average of 230V)
DC-in: 19.5V (sounds about right)

So there is nothing wrong with the AC adapter. I also found a lot of bread crumbs on the motherboard and inside the keyboard itself..

Upon diagnosis, after unmounting the netbook piece by piece, I found out that the LED charge (power supply) light only wants to turn on when the internal keyboard's ribbon is not attached to the motherboard.

This is very strange. Why would attaching the keyboard cause the charge LED not to turn on and the power button to fail? The LED not turning on could mean that there is no power going from the DC-in to the motherboard. I have tried avoiding measuring the voltage of the motherboard's power supply connector because it's so tiny I find it very difficult to insert the prongs there on the polarization +/- of that tiny DC unit.

In any case: whenever I connect the internal keyboard with its ribbon to the motherboard, the laptop no longer powers on (the charge LED does not light up and the power on key does not do anything). After I remove the keyboard and I re-insert the AC adapter into the laptop, it boots fine; Windows 7 starter shows up. No problems.

What could the cause of this problem be? A shorted keyboard (water spilled, too many bread crums fell in it)? A shorted motherboard on the part of the keyboard connection?

note: I do not have an extra internal keyboard or an extra power supply for this netbook. Tomorrow I am going to ask someone for a USB keyboard to see if it works that way. Another expensive option I might have to test out is to buy a replacement internal keyboard from HP.

Please let me know your ideas on this.

Thanks

//Edit:
After fully recharging the battery and plugging in the keyboard ribbon again, the LED turns on and the system boots successfully. I don't understand. I will do further tests now..

 

[~mr mixx~]

It sounds like you found out the problem wich i tip my hat to you. You're on the right track. I would either order the keyboard from HP if it's not too expensive OR

If it is, you can always rely on a USB keyboard like you said. It might be a little inconvenienced but what ever works.

 

[strollin]

Looks like you don't need a new keyboard after all but if you do need to order one, try Ebay before HP. You might be able to buy a non-working netbbook with keyboard as a parts donor for less than what HP would charge for the keyboard.

 

[CFu]

I contacted the netbook owner again to ask how the PC repair shop inquiry went. He said: "Those guys took my netbook into their computer room for 15 minutes and came back saying "Your motherboard is dead. We would have to send it for repair back to HP headquarters in the neighboring country and it would be a big mess, so we recommend instead of saving you all that trouble, you buy one of our tablets"".

I'm not sure if you have studied the principles of 'planned/perceived obsolescence' (you should see Youtube for 'the lightbulb conspiracy'), but like I studied at my university it basically comes down to this principle: after WWII, the US needed a way to kick the economy back into life and thus came up with a genius plan of mass consumption that would restore the economy back on its feet. This was not enough, they also embedded in this genius conspiracy governmental system a psychological aspect: that people should believe they can only achieve happiness by being mass consumers.
Sadly, this strategy has successfully worked on the entire world (except for a few smart ones of us) and it has turned most of us into dumb, unknowing mass consumers who tie status to material ownership.

Anyway, long story short: the trend in computer stores (or any store for that matter) is that when you bring in a defective device, the salesmen and technicians are effectively trained to fool the customers and inflate their own revenue by telling the customers that their appliance is in fact broken and unfixable, or so broken that it is better (so called cheaper) to buy a new device. Now, this may seem obvious to many, but I thought I should have pointed out my argument.

I believe that is what has happened to my poor netbook owner friend.

In any case, I told him I'll give him a call when I am willing to take another look at his netbook. The problem is: my hardware knowledge is too basic and I don't know how to check if a motherboard is fried/dead or not. I don't even know what a short looks like. I think I will ask my electrician friend (but he's very busy lately). My observations tell me the motherboard is not fried/dead because it worked and booted the OS correctly as long as the keyboard wasn't attached. Then I attached the keyboard again and for some reason it worked again, but after a while it stopped working, making me remove the keyboard. Then I booted again and it worked again without keyboard. So really, I don't really know how to troubleshoot this one.

Any ideas?

//P.S. I was afraid to mention this but I accidentally sparked his netbook on the DC-socket on his motherboard (a tiny white electrical ark appeared when I briefly touched the +/- polarities on the DC-socket entry with the multimeter metal probes.. and I thought: uh-oh, I forgot to unplug the AC adapter..). But after that, the netbook still booted. Did I fry the motherboard?..

 

[dev893]

it could in fact be a short in the keyboard ribbon try replacing the keyboard. Or you can simply tell your friend to use an external keyboard and eave the internal unplugged from the motherboard so that there isn't a big empty space if you wanna go the easiest and cheapest route though I do prefer to fix the issue rather than work around it.

 

[jmacavali]

Anyway, long story short: the trend in computer stores (or any store for that matter) is that when you bring in a defective device, the salesmen and technicians are effectively trained to fool the customers and inflate their own revenue by telling the customers that their appliance is in fact broken and unfixable, or so broken that it is better (so called cheaper) to buy a new device. Now, this may seem obvious to many, but I thought I should have pointed out my argument.

I don't buy this nor have I ever been on either end of a deal like this. At the shop I was at, we made every attempt to repair the computer. I've also never felt like I've been to any shop where they wanted to try to sell me something new when what I had was fixable. That's all beside the point though.

I believe that is what has happened to my poor netbook owner friend.

In any case, I told him I'll give him a call when I am willing to take another look at his netbook. The problem is: my hardware knowledge is too basic and I don't know how to check if a motherboard is fried/dead or not. I don't even know what a short looks like. I think I will ask my electrician friend (but he's very busy lately). My observations tell me the motherboard is not fried/dead because it worked and booted the OS correctly as long as the keyboard wasn't attached. Then I attached the keyboard again and for some reason it worked again, but after a while it stopped working, making me remove the keyboard. Then I booted again and it worked again without keyboard. So really, I don't really know how to troubleshoot this one.

Any ideas?

//P.S. I was afraid to mention this but I accidentally sparked his netbook on the DC-socket on his motherboard (a tiny white electrical ark appeared when I briefly touched the +/- polarities on the DC-socket entry with the multimeter metal probes.. and I thought: uh-oh, I forgot to unplug the AC adapter..). But after that, the netbook still booted. Did I fry the motherboard?..

My 2 idea. 1)it's the ribbon cable from the keyboard (as mentioned) or 2) it's the port on the motherboard where they ribbon cable connects.

 

[dev893]

I don't buy this nor have I ever been on either end of a deal like this. At the shop I was at, we made every attempt to repair the computer. I've also never felt like I've been to any shop where they wanted to try to sell me something new when what I had was fixable. That's all beside the point though.



My 2 idea. 1)it's the ribbon cable from the keyboard (as mentioned) or 2) it's the port on the motherboard where they ribbon cable connects.

Obviously touve never been in a small town

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[dev893]

Obviously touve never been in a small town

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Meant that as a joke

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